Overview
- Efficient undulating propulsion system
- Excellent static thrust/Watt
- Stealth characteristics
- Amphibious capabilities over sand, snow, ice and other solid substrates
- Resistant to entanglement in plants or other aquatic debris
- Lower environmental impact than spinning propeller-thrusters
Velox – Agile amphibious swimmer
Velox can use several modes of locomotion found in the animal kingdom using just one pair of “fins”. These fins are best described as four-dimensional objects with a hyperbolic geometry that allows the robot to swim like a ray, crawl like a millipede, jet like a squid, and slide like a snake.
Velox – Agile amphibious swimmer
A craft equipped with this system has unprecedented freedom to travel through a range of environments in a single mission. As an underwater vehicle, the robot’s ability to instantly reverse direction and do quick turns make it ideal for tasks such as coral reef inspection or lion fish hunting where a craft must rapidly maneuver to look around and between objects.
C-Ray AUV/ROV Platform: Unprecedented Versatility
A single vehicle that can move through multiple environments in a single mission.
Velox Robot
Applications
- Highly maneuverable autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) or remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that can move from land to sea and back with ease. Ideal for surf zone, amphibious beach missions and polar ice missions
- Ice-rescue robot for towing a rope and life buoy to a victim who has fallen through thin ice
- Personal propulsion for professional divers and recreational use
- Stand-alone thruster to replace propellers on craft in environmentally-sensitive waters such as coral reefs, mangroves and sea grass beds
- Stand-alone thruster to replace propellers on craft in debris-filled waters
CASE STUDY: VELOX – AGILE AMPHIBIOUS SWIMMER
Pliant Energy’s Velox robot is a beautiful swimmer than can leave the water and travel across sand, pebbles, paving, grass and even ice.
Velox robot is moving on ice
Above: Velox maneuvers in free swimming mode under ice (left), increases buoyancy and raises fins for station keeping under ice (right) and activates fins to “skate” across the under surface of the ice.
Above: ROV/AUV insertion options from: surface vessels, subsea vessels, land, tethered vehicle as a stealthy forward operating scout for divers.
Above: Velox delivering ammo and medical supplies during an amphibious beach mission
Above: Velox traveling through plant-filled waters with low risk of entanglement, minimal damage to plants and minimal disturbance of sediment layers.
Above: Velox travels from water to land autonomously or by remote control when near or above the surface with minimal disturbance to environment.
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